More than two decades after Alaska Airlines became the first U.S-based carrier to start secretly issuing airplane-themed trading cards to those in the know, American Airlines is finally joining the trend after the collectible trading cards became TikTok famous.
More and more passengers have been stopping American Airlines pilots in airport concourses and even making special visits to the cockpit during boarding and deplaning to enquire about the trading cards, only to be left disappointed.
That is about to change, however, although the addition of the trading cards is more thanks to frontline pilots, rather than American Airlines.
The Texas-based carrier’s trading card collection has actually been created by the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the official union that represents more than 16,000 American Airlines pilots.
The union shared an image of four of the trading cards, which feature some of the airline’s most popular aircraft types, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing 737, and Airbus A321, flying above destinations like Paris and Sydney.
The collection also features the Boeing 777-300 in a special 100th anniversary retro livery, which is based on the ‘Flagship’ paint scheme that used to be emblazoned on the carrier’s Douglas DC-3 airplanes more than 90 years ago.
Delta Air Lines became one of the first US carriers to start the trading card trend back in 2003, when the airline was preparing to retire its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-11s the following year. To commemorate the event, Delta created a limited edition trading card, but it slowly started to add more aircraft types to the collection.
Over more than two decades, Delta has created 68 unique cards across seven series, which have been given away free to anyone in the know who asked a pilot for one.
For years, uptake was fairly limited as the ability to get hold of trading cards was very much an IYKYK club, but that all changed in 2023 when airline trading cards became TikTok famous.
In 2024, Delta passengers collected more than three million cards, and the print run for Delta’s special centennial collection, featuring its flagship Airbus A350, as well as the Airbus A330, Boeing 767, and smaller aircraft like the Airbus A220 and A321neo, is even bigger.
The history of airline trading cards goes back even further at Alaska Airlines, where the limited-edition trading cards have been around since the 1990s, when the Seattle-based carrier first started printing a small deck on inexpensive cardstock.
Last year, Alaska Airlines updated its trading card collection in light of demand, with eight new cards that feature some of the carrier’s most iconic special liveries.
Earlier this year, Spirit Airlines also launched its own trading card collection, while Frontier Airlines has trading cards featuring its famous tailfin animals.
